did not write in a virus exclusion and then still
denied coverage.
Pressure on insurers isn’t only coming in the
form of lawsuits.
State lawmakers, including in Illinois, New
York and New Jersey, have proposed laws that
would dictate insurers accept business claims
for coronavirus damage, in some cases even if
policies exclude pandemics.
Industry advocates say such mandates could
drain insurance funds needed to pay claims
during upcoming hurricane season and when
other natural disaster inevitably strike. The laws,
they argue, also would undermine the contract
law upon which free markets rely.
“If elected officials require payment for perils
that were excluded, never underwritten for,
and for which no premium was ever collected,
catastrophic results will occur,” said Charles
Chamness, president of the National Association
of Mutual Insurance Companies.